Spanish colonial architecture, a splash of art deco, more than a touch of latin flavour and fantastic night life, what’s not to love about Puerto Rico? And did we mention the golf?
Puerto Rico combines the familiar pleasures of Americana with the subtropical climate and silky golden sands of the Caribbean. Christopher Columbus raised the Spanish flag on the island in the Greater Antilles to the south west of Florida during his second voyage in 1843. He was followed by Andalucian settlers escaping from persecution and poverty and West African slaves imported to work the cane fields. Their legacy in what’s now a US Territory is richly Latin American, a honeypot for refugees from northern winters who like their home comforts touched with exotica.
The capital, San Juan, is a lovely stroll through Spanish Colonial and Art Deco streets. The scene is particularly vibrant after dark. Music in a Ponce lounge, rum cocktails in a San Sebastián bar or the pulsating beat in a Santurce dance club? A tough choice. The fortifications at Castillo de San Cristobal, the largest castle built by the Spanish in the New World, are particularly impressive.
Puerto Rico is a paradise for watersports, with 20ft waves for surfers and coral reefs bright with tropical fish for divers and snorkellers. For a non-commercial great escape, take a boat to the island of Vieques: 40 beaches, not a single traffic light.
El Yunque is America’s only tropical rain forest, a tangle of giant trees, waterfalls and flamboyant undergrowth. Take a tram into the heart of The Parque de las Cavernas del Rio Camuy, an underground river with stalactites, stalagmites and wildlife, including bats, crabs and tarantulas. The compulsory tour continues with a walk through 200 caves.
El Conquistador
An ocean-front Waldorf Astoria resort 30 miles east of San Juan. Built by the classy Arthur Hills, the golf course replaced an existing one destroyed by Hurricane Hugo in 1983. Slightly inland with sharp elevation changes, it makes brilliant use of quirky terrain and the ocean views are amazing. Green fees from £100.
elconresort.com
Royal Isabela
Created as the centrepiece of a luxury residential development, this is a course of two halves. The front nine are equatorial parkland, with the 6th, Fork in the Road, offering the unusual challenge of a split fairway leading to two separate greens. The back nine, laid out along jagged cliffs from the 12th, are tougher. Green fees from £105.
royalisabela.com
TPC Dorado Beach
TPC Dorado Beach
The oldest golf complex on the island 15 miles west of San Juan. Developed in the 1950s by Laurence Rockefeller, with East and West courses designed by Robert Trent Jones Snr on a former plantation. Host to two World Cups, the East is the star. Two Plantation courses were added in the 1970s. East green fees from £105.
tpc.com
